Download This: PortaPayments

PortaPayments is a brilliant little idea: it’s an Android app that creates QR codes for PayPal payments. Scanning one of these QR codes takes you to PayPal with the recipient and amount all filled out. Manually approve the payment and you’re done.

This enables mobile payments (create the code on your phone and the customer scans it with their phone) as well as allowing you to use the QR code images as, say, a tip jar on a website, or printed on an invoice. Lots of possibilities: I can imagine a charity printing up posters or handbills that include PortaPayment codes so people can easily make a donation.

One hitch I found in testing the app is that the PortaPayments app must be used to scan the codes;other barcode scanners will not work correctly. If the developer can address this issue, businesses would be more apt to use it.

The developer has entered the app in the PayPal Developers Challenge. If you like the idea,give him a vote between now and the end of Friday, March 5.

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We're the developers of the app and we're happy to take questions / answer queries.

– On the "scan by any scanner" issue; We're looking into this, but at the moment only PayPals servers are used, so using an intermediary will introduce complexity and potentially increase QR code density to beyond what can be shown well on a QVGA Screen (yup, we test on a Tattoo). But we are looking into it.

– On the "Crafted URL" issue; We use the Adaptive API which allows us to include multiple recipients and other features which can't be done with the crafted URL. We're also talking to PayPal about using their upcoming Android PayPal library which will give a better user experience that can't be duplicated with one URL.

I like the concept but not quite clear on how I can use it. I have the Droid X. So if I have the application, then do I use my phone or does the client have to have a smartphone to use it, and I guess they also have to have a PayPal account? I’m writing a post on my blog about it for other potential users and would love more information. Thanks.

It is an excellent invention that enables mobile payments and it is made possible by the feature of PortaPayments by an Android app that creates QR codes for PayPal payments. Thanks for sharing the information.

This is quite simply a fantastic idea with numerous applications. We’d been interested to know whether it now allows standard bar code reader apps to work with the service? If so, this really has got a lot of potential!

Street Chuggers wearing cool QR Code T-Shirts (http://QRazystuff.com) with “scan me to make a donation” on the back, or handing out flyers with a list of donation value codes…

I have found that the codes created for my business and clients from Scan Nation work across all platforms. I have not had (knock on wood) a single issue. They also create complete marketing campaigns for marketeers that need a little help in justifying the idea to the boss.

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